Shaker units for harvesting machines

ABSTRACT

A harvesting machine for berries and fruits such as coffee beans and blackcurrants includes at least one tined shaker oscillating about a vertical or substantially vertical axis. The shaker is oscillated by out-of-balance weights and a shaft supporting the weights is not itself driven, the drive to the weights being effected through a sleeve surrounding the shaft and toothed belts.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to shaker units for harvesting machines intendedfor gathering useful crops from bushlike plants, such as blackcurrants,raspberries and coffee beans. The invention also relates to thecombination of an agricultural tractor and one or more shaker units.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It has been already been proposed to provide a machine incorporatingseveral oscillatory shaker units which engage with tines, plantscarrying fruit, and detach that fruit from the plant by shaking action.In this previous proposal the shaker units are rotated by interactionbetween the tines and the bushes as the machine is moved linearly alonga row of bushes. The oscillations are positively applied to the rotaryshaker units by an oscillating weight system, with weights disposeddiametrically opposite one another about a central shaft to the shakerunits, a wind-milling effect is liable to occur causing the shaker unitsto rotate in an uncontrolled manner which can damage the useful crops,and or the bushes. This wind-milling effect is, of course, caused by theinevitable friction in the bearings supporting the central shaft. Thewind-milling effect can be eliminated by a friction band applied to thecentral shaft but this increases the resistance to rotation and hencepossible damage to the bushes.

It has already been proposed to drive such shaker units both in arotational sense and also to impose an oscillatory motion. One previousproposal requires, however, a complex gearing system in order to achievethis desired result, and the complexity leads both to initial highexpense and the possibility of poor reliability resulting directly fromthe complexity and the use under field conditions.

According to the present invention there is provided a shaker unit forincorporation in a harvesting machine comprising an oscillatory tineassembly for engaging bushes to be harvested, out of balance weightmeans coupled to the tine assembly for oscillating the assembly, asupport shaft for supporting the tine assembly and the out of balanceweight means, drive means for driving the out of balance weight meansand further drive means for positively rotating the tine assembly, thedrive means incorporating an element which can accommodate theoscillatory movement whilst simultaneously transmitting the rotationaldrive.

Further according to the present invention, there is provided a shakerunit for incorporation in a harvesting machine comprising an oscillatorytine assembly for engaging bushes to be harvested, means supporting thetine assembly for rotation and oscillatory motion, means for driving thetine assembly at a rotary speed "matched" to the linear speed of themachine and means for imparting oscillatory motion to the tine assembly,said drive means being capable of accommodating in a torsional mannerthe oscillatory motion whilst positively driving the tine assembly in arotary sense.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A shaker unit embodying the invention for incorporation in a harvestingmachine (or a conventional tractor) will now be described, by way ofexample, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the harvester incorporating the novelshaker unit of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the harvester of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged section, taken substantially along the line 3--3of FIG. 2, of the shaker unit with portions being broken away and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary section of a modified form of a portion of theshaker unit.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The disclosed harvesting machine incorporating the rotational driveconstructed in accordance with FIG. 3 is disclosed and claimed inapplication Ser. No. 90,815, filed Nov. 2, 1979, still pending, which isassigned to the assignee of the present invention.

With reference to FIG. 1, illustrating the harvesting machineincorporating the novel shaker units of the present invention, theharvester is generally indicated by numeral 10 and it will be seen toinclude a frame structure 12 mounting pairs of forward and rearwardwheels 14 and 16 respectively. At the forward end of the harvestercooperating forwardly projecting vine spreading plows 18 are rigidlymounted and they serve to divide and direct the bushes to the shakerunits 20. Their location is generally indicated by phantom line 22 inFIG. 1. Directly below the shaker units, chain conveyors 24, carryingpans formed with cleats, are provided and in operation they transportthe removed crop and any leaves or vine fragments rearwardly andupwardly to a casing 26 connected to the inlet of a fan 28 which servesto separate extraneous material such as leaves and vine fragments fromthe harvested crop. The leaves and vine fragments are discharged, bymeans of a duct 30, to the ground whereas the cleaned crop cascadesdownwardly and is collected in a container 32. A wagon 34 hitched to theframe of the harvester stores filled containers 32 which are manuallylocated at the illustrated filling position than to the wagon whenfilled. A conventional roller conveyor 36, slightly inclined to therear, serves to store empty containers that are successively positionedat the loading station.

In accordance with the novel subject matter of the present invention theshaker unit 20, which is shown in detail in FIGS. 3 and 4 incorporatesdual drive inputs that effect controlled angular oscillation of the vineshaking tines and concurrent rotation of the tine assembly at a speedwhich is synchronized with a speed at which the harvesting unit istravelling. Synchronization of the drive is brought about by acomparator unit which per se does not form part of this application, butis described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,511, which is assignedto the assignee of the present application. By reference thereto it isintended that this disclosure be incorporated herein. The comparatorunit provides an input to a hydraulic motor (not shown) that drives ashaft 23 by means of a timing belt 25 and a pulley 27. A support plate29, connected to the frame 12, supports a pillow block bearing 31rotatably supporting the shaft 23.

While this application will substantially duplicate the description ofthe construction and mode of operation of the subject matter of FIG. 3,which is disclosed and claimed in the above mentioned U.S. application,it is to be understood that it is applicant's intention to restrict theclaims appended hereto, to the embodiment of FIG. 4.

The input for operating the oscillatory drive is derived from anotherhydraulic motor (not shown) driving a timing belt 33 connected to apulley 35. A short tubular shaft 37, concentric with the shaft 23, ismounted for rotation relative to the shaft 23 by bearings 38. The inputprovided by the belt 33 to the pulley 35 is imparted to stacked pulleys40 and 42 driving, by means of timing belts 44 and 46, respectively,short stub shafts 48 and 50. The three axially spaced pulleys 35, 40 and42 are secured for rotation with the tubular shaft 37 by a longitudinalkey 52.

A tubular hub 54 is connected to the lower end of the shaft 23 by meansof axially spaced bearings 56 and 58. The hub is formed with flanges towhich are rigidly secured, by means of screw fasteners collectivelyidentified by the numeral 60, to axially spaced plates 62 and 64.Outboard spacers 65 interconnect the plates 62 and 64. As will beevident by inspection of FIG. 3, the stub shafts 48 and 50 are rotatablymounted to the plates 62 and 64 by means of bearings 66 confined withincup-shaped housings 68 secured to the respective plates by screwfasteners 70. Keyed to the upper end of each shaft 48 and 50 are pulleys72 and 74, respectively, which are driven by timing belts 44 and 46.

A dynamic imbalanced condition is created in the shaker unit 20 bykeying weights 76 and 78 to the shafts 48 and 50, respectively, andretaining the weights rigid with the shafts by set screws 80. As will beapparent, dynamic imbalance is created by locating the center of gravityof the weights 76 and 78 away from the axis of rotation of the shafts 48and 50.

A tubular shaft 82, preferably having a generally rectangularcross-sectional shape, is rigidly secured to the lower plate 64 by beingwelded to a bored disc 84 which in turn is fastened to the plate 64 bythe screw fasteners 60. The tubular shaft 82 has fixed thereon splithubs 86 carrying a plurality of radially extending circumferentiallyspaced tines 88 that penetrate the bushes or plants and transmit theshaking motion generated by the weights 76 and 78 to the tines 88. As aresult, mature fruit is dislodged and is collected on the conveyors 24.

On the lower end of the shaft 82, a short shaft extension 90 is rigidlysecured and is carried within a pillow block bearing 92 which in turn issecured to the frame of the harvester through a support 94. Rotarymotion imparted to the shaft 23 by the hydraulic drive, driving thetiming belt 25 is transmitted to the shaft 82 by a small diameterextension 23a having its lower end secured to a block 96 located withinthe square tubular shaft 82. The shaft extension 23a has its diameterselected so that it will torsionally deflect in response to the shakingmotion imparted by the weights 76 and 78 as they rotate. In addition,the shaft extension 23a imparts the control rotation to the tubularshaft 82 and, of course, by virtue of its rigid connection to the disc84, to the plates 62 and 64.

With reference to FIG. 4 which illustrates the subject matter of thepresent invention, it will be seen that the construction of the centershaft, the shaker unit and the tine assembly may be the same as in theabove described construction, or may be the same as the correspondingconstruction described in copending British appln. No. 20335/76 in thename of Pattenden Engineering Limited. Like parts have been given thesame reference numerals as those of the embodiment hereinbeforedescribed.

As is apparent from FIG. 4, the lower, square-section, tube 82 carriesinternally a square section support member 108 which is welded to thetube and has a central, tapered, aperture 110 with a keyway for a key112. The key 112 engages a corresponding keyway of a taper-lock bushing114.

The bushing 114 itself has a central bore or other aperture by which thebushing is keyed to one end of an elongate torsion bar 116 extendingover the whole length of the tube 82. The lower end of the tube 82 issupported in a bearing 118 through the intermediary of a stepped sleeve120. A lower end portion of the bar 116 passes through the sleeve 120and is secured for rotation with a drive pulley 122 through a shear pin124. The pulley is mounted for rotation on the lowermost portion of thesleeve by a plastic bearing bushing 126 made for example of Delrin AF113 or other appropriate material. A dirt seal 128 is provided at theupper end of this bearing bushing.

The pulley 122 may be, as shown, a V-belt, but can also be toothed asthe pulleys 27, 35 and 40.

The rotational drive to the torsion bar 116 is provided by the pulley122 from a hydraulic motor (not shown) while the superimposedoscillatory motion is applied to the bar from the shaker units throughthe square-section tube 82 and the taper-lock bushing 114. Byappropriate dimensioning of the torsion bar, for example 5/8" diameterand a minimum length of 4' and appropriate material, such as cold rolledsteel, the torsion bar 116 will be able to accommodate both therotational and oscillatory motions without risk of overloading. In theevent that the tine assembly strikes a rigid obstacle, the shear pin 124will rupture thereby interrupting the rotary drive. The oscillatingassembly with the torsion bar will not be operated at its naturalfrequency.

The shaker units hereinbefore described may be mounted on a straddleharvester in pairs about the longitudinal center line of the harvester,so that the shakers engage with opposite sides of the bush to beharvested.

It is also possible (as proposed in copending British application No.43758/78 in the name of Pattenden Engineering Limited) where small farmsor holdings are involved to mount one of the shaker units on a frameprovided on a conventional agricultural tractor. This arrangement avoidsthe need for a purpose-built machine which will often be too costly fora small farm to support.

In some circumstances the tractor may be arranged to carry two shakerunits mounted one on each side of the tractor.

Although the best mode contemplated for carrying out the presentinvention has been herein shown and described, the subject matter whichis regarded as the invention is set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:
 1. A shaker assembly for use in a harvesting machine,said assembly comprising shaker shaft means, circumferentially spacedtines projecting radially from said shaker shaft means, means forcircumferentially oscillating said shaker shaft means and tines aboutthe axis of said shaft means, means for unidirectionally rotating saidshaker shaft means about its axis including a driven rotary member andmeans for driving said rotary member; the improvement comprisingrotationally elastic, elongate torsion bar means concentric with theaxis of said shaker shaft means, means for connecting one end portion ofsaid torsion bar means to said driven rotary member, and means forconnecting the other end portion of said torsion bar means to saidshaker shaft means.
 2. The shaker assembly of claim 1, wherein saidshaker shaft means comprises a tube, said torsion bar means comprising arod extending from said driven rotary member into said tube to theconnecting means of said shaker shaft.
 3. A shaker unit for use in aharvesting machine, said shaker unit including a shaft supportingradially projecting circumferentially spaced tine assemblies beingaxially spaced along said shaft, drive means for concurrentlyoscillating and rotating said shaft about its axis, the improvement insaid drive imparting rotation to said shaft comprising means forimparting oscillatory motion to one end of said shaft, means forimparting rotary motion to the other end of said shaft, and a torsionbar directly connected to said rotary motion imparting means forelastically attenuating the oscillatory and the rotational motions, saidtorsion bar is secured to a pulley by a shear pin.
 4. A shaker unit foruse in a harvesting machine, said shaker unit including a shaftsupporting radially projecting circumferentially spaced tine assembliesbeing axially spaced along said shaft, drive means for concurrentlyoscillating and rotating said shaft about its axis, the improvement insaid drive imparting rotation of said shaft comprising means forimparting oscillatory motion to one end of said shaft, means forimparting rotary motion to the other end of said shaft, and a torsionbar directly connected to said rotary motion imparting means forelastically attenuating the oscillatory and the rotational motions, saidshaft comprises one hollow section supporting out of balance weightsthat effect oscillatory motion and another hollow section mounting tineassemblies, said torsion bar being located in said another hollowsection and drivingly connected thereto by a tapered bushing.